Qassam Explodes in Ashkelon, Lightly Wounding Israeli girl

A Qassam rocket fell on the Ashkelon beach on early Tuesday morning, exploding in an open field seven meters away from a kindergarten.

The explosion lightly wounded a teenage Israeli girl on her way to school when shrapnel from the explosion struck her leg.

The girl was treated by Magen David Adom paramedics and then rushed to the Barzilai Hospital.

Four others were treated for shock and several buildings in the nearby kibbutz were lightly damaged.

The Qassam rocket was fired by Hamas militants just after Israeli Air Force completed several air strikes in the Gaza Strip. On Saturday, five militants from a rocket launching squad were killed and on Tuesday night, two militants were wounded in the strikes.

Before the Qassam hit early Tuesday morning, the IAF struck seven terror targets including a number of “terror tunnels” in northern Gaza and smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza strip.

Tuesday morning’s air strike followed a bombardment of mortar shells from the Gaza Strip into the Eshkol regional council in Israel on Monday.

The head of the Ashkelon Beach local authority, Yair Farjun, told Arutz Sheva that “the continued fire endangers our lives and disrupts life’s routine.”

In fact, a local teacher told Haaretz.com that the school is always prepared to evacuate classrooms in case of an attack.

“The doors are always open and the children are not allowed to leave the area,” she said.